Mutual Fund Firms Break Language Barriers

More mutual fund companies are trying to communicate clearly with all their shareholders: in Spanish, German, Korean, Russian and Vietnamese; in Braille, and on special lines for the hearing-impaired.

Fidelity Investments last week started a toll-free telephone service for Spanish-speaking customers. Investors can speak to a bilingual Fidelity sales representative to get fund prospectuses or to open an account.

Although Fidelity expects to gain new clients with the Spanish service, it has found that many clients for whom English is a second language prefer to discuss financial matters in their native language, said Bobbi Carrey, senior vice president of marketing.

Other fund groups, including Janus Funds and Dreyfus Corp., provide bilingual telephone representatives for callers. Twentieth Century Mutual Funds has representatives who speak Spanish, German, Korean, Vietnamese, French, Chinese and Russian, spokesman Gunnar Hughes said.

For vision-impaired investors, some fund groups say they will make prospectuses in Braille or large-print versions available upon request. Benham Group, of Mountain View, Calif., is one. Maria Lang, a spokeswoman for Benham, said the group also offers prospectuses on computer disks, so investors can enlarge the type on their computers.

Dreyfus has seen a steady increase in the number of calls it gets from hearing-impaired investors since the New York-based fund group late last year installed a device that allows investors with a telecommunications device for the deaf, or TDD, to call its automated line.

Dreyfus is getting TDD calls on its automated system at a rate of nearly 1,000 calls a year, the firm said. Dreyfus gets about 1.6 million other calls a year on its automated system.